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Category: California

I listened to Andy Wirth, the CEO and president of Squaw Valley and his interview with KCRW in the Press Play program was just amazing. I am a great enthusiast of Skiing and any information and news regard the same has been my endeavor. Currently, the California drought has been posing as a challenge to the skiing industry and Squaw Valley is anticipating losses as a result. The drought has been caused by the EL Nino effect. The ski resorts in the areas have reported negative implications with the low amounts of snowfall in the recent past. However, Andy Wirth has surprised the players in the industry by stating that the drought has not affected the Squaw Valley resort. He has been in charge of the resort for the five years and throughout this time, he has made tremendous progress.

He joined the Squaw Valley five years ago and since he was brought on board the resort has realized notable progress in the right direction. I tuned in to listen to Andy as he talked about the effects of the current drought in California on KCRW. He was being interviewed by Madeline Brand and he remained very objective with the current situation. He remained positive and he did not express any shred of doubt in the capacity of the Squaw Valley to remain resilient to the current dry spell.

While he admits that the reduced snowfall has resulted into the reduction of the amount of land used for skiing at the resort, he remains adamant that the Squaw Valley resort has remained profitable nonetheless. While the snowfalls where stable, the resort would provide 6000 acres of land for skiing according to Wirth. However, the amount of acreage provided by the company has reduced with the dry spell and the current reduced snowfall. As such, the company has reduced the amount of skiing land to 4000 acres. Regardless of the reduced amount of acres offered by the resort for skiing currently, Squaw Valley has remained profitable.

To my amusement, the charismatic CEO made a light moment about the drought saying that I has been a beneficial to the resort because the employees are keen in conserving the snow. Judging by his responses all through the interview, Wirth is a very positive leader and he constantly replied to the questions asked without hesitating to express his positive and high expectation of better performance in the industry amidst all the crisis. While others are worried about the drought, Wirth affirms that he has no concerns about the current situation and that it does not worry him that the drought is taking quite long. He banks on his man-made snow strategy to keep the business running and he is optimistic that this will work just fine.